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WRATHFUL 
PATRIOT 



WITH APOLOGIES TO 




WASHINGTON 



THE 

WRATHFUL 

PATRIOT 



A SATIRE ON NATIONAL EVILS 

BY 
THOMAS H. KENNEDY. 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS H. KENNEDY 
1035 MARKET STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



7 









COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY THOMAS H. KENNEDY 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



OCT 2 I9I4 



CHASE & RAE, PRINTERS 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL, 



,87 

ICU380676 



MARGINAL NOTES. Pages. 

A Hero 's Bust 1 

Patriotic Warfare 1 

Our Early Navy 2 

Fighting Fleets 2 

Prosperous Peace 3 

Westward Immigration 3 

Bright California 4 

False Praise 4 

Interruption 5 

An Angry Phantom 5 

A Rebuke 5 

Ballots Debased 6 

Precinct Sluggers 6 

Election Grafters 7 

Church Grafters 7 

Women Grafters 8 

Buying Votes 9 

Crooked Counting 9 

Removing Evidence 9 

Judicial Whitewash 9 

Corrupt Legislatures 10 

Congress • 10 

Party Hacks 10 

Fighting Members 11 

Thrifty Senators 11 

Hopeless Toilers 12 

Child Slaves 12 

The Nation 's Curse 13 

Mine Slaves 13 

Raiding Homes 14 

Industrial Shame 14 

The Lockout 15 

Military Murder 15 

U. S. Slaves 16 

Postal Workers 16 

Robbed Consuls 16 

Naval Officers 17 

Proper Entertainment 17 

Bankrupt Crews 17 

Immigration 18 

Asiatics 18 

Congressional Cowards 18 

Deceived Europeans 19 

The Navy 19 

Tainted Rations 20 

Unsafe Ships 20 

The ' ' Maine ' ' 20 

Unwise Parsimony 20 



MARGINAL NOTES. Pages. 

Possible Results 21 

Lost Merchant Marine 21 

Grewless Vessels 21 

The Army 22 

Pooling Recruits 22 

Examination 22 

Vaccine Poison 23 

Typhoid Inoculation 24 

Jail for Refusal 24 

Hawaiian Steal 25 

Philippine Wrongs 25 

A Mockery of Freedom 26 

The Panama Theft 26 

The "Law of Right" 27 

Through the Ages 27 

Civilization 28 

Dotard Juries 29 

Corrupt Courts 29 

Legal Juggling 30 

' ' Fixed ' ' Juries 30 

Reversal 31 

Humiliating the Police 31 

Mob Violence 32 

The Cause 32 

Riparian Wrongs 32 

The Constitution Is Killed 33 

Negro Persecution 34 

Abused Indians 35 

Forest Destruction 36 

The Greedy Lumber Trust 36 

San Francisco 36 

The Earthquake 37 

Robbed Citizens 38 

Lost National Pride 38 

American Toadies 38 

An Ass In Disguise 39 

Title Hunting Girls 39 

A Noble Beggar 40 

Shamed In Europe 40 

Embraced In America 40 

Loveless Wedding 40 

A Ruined Life 41 

Scorned Brides 41 

National Turpitude 42 

Gambling Evils 43 

Stocks 43 

Racetracks 43 



Pages. 

Pugilism 44 

Card Playing .'. 44 

Drugs and Liquor 44 

Wrecked Homes 44 

Smoking Women 45 

Immodest Gowns 45 

Painted Faces 45 

Immoral Dances 46 

To White Slavery 46 

Vulgar Plays 46 

Demoralizing Eeels 47 

Tainted Fiction 47 

Degraded Art 48 

Empty Churches 49 

The Divorce Evil 50 

Crowding Ills 50 

A Timid Beply 51 

Pessimists 51 

Calamity Howlers 52 

Legal Murders 52 

Prison Eeform 53 

Dangerous Policy 53 

Civic Liberty 54 

Europe Compared 54 

Starving Asians 54 

African Slavers 54 

Eenewed Wrath 55 

Our Ship of State 55 

A Georgia Horror 56 

Savage Deeds 56 

A Kansas Shame 57 

Massachusetts Outrages 57 

Hateful Militia 58 

The Ludlow Horror 58 

Legalized Bondage 59 

California Infamy 59 

Craven Vigilantes 59 

Brooding Anarchy 60 

Suppression of Speech 60 

Kingly Presidents 61 

Canal Tolls 61 

England 's Wish 61 

A Stupid Flop 62 

Bloody Mexico 62 

European Protest 63 

Vera Cruz 63 

A Foe Forever 63 

Future Eegrets 63 



MARGINAL NOTES. Pages. 

Selling the Navy 64 

A Crime 64 

The Coming Storm 64 

Reform 65 

Women Voters 65 

Stop Immigration 65 

A Final Warning 66 

Two Terms the Limit.. 66 



PREFACE 



It is common to hear blindly optimistic citizens prate about 
the glory of our nation and the nobility of its race, but calm 
reflection on evident facts might diminish their patriotic 
enthusiasm and modify their views. 

Could Washington return today, he would find a nation 
much different from the fair ideal conceived by himself and 
the patriots of his time. They believed in "government by 
the people," not by predatory trusts and corporations upheld 
by court injunctions and legal jugglery, ever working to the 
disadvantage of the poor. 

Considering daily reports in the press, of political, legis- 
lative, and official corruption, together with judicial suppres- 
sion of Constitutional rights and free speech, wanton military 
murders, like the Ludlow horrors, San Diego's cowardly 
vigilante outrages, barbarous white slavery, fiendish lynchings 
of untried and often innocent Negroes, etc. ; it seems that 
instead of sending missionaries to convert the swarthy natives 
of distant lands, their time might be better employed in trying 
to improve the white savages in our own. Time, however, 
cures all ills, and, notwithstanding besetting evils, our Ship 
of State is still afloat and our starry flag waves over one of the 
best countries on earth. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



I sat alone before the glowing grate, 
A storm was raging and the hour was late. 
The thunder rumbled and the wind was shrill, 
With splashing rain on window-glass and sill. 
Beside the mantel in the ruddy light 

A Hero's A. bust of Washington was shining bright. 

Bust. Musing I gazed upon the sculptured face, 

Calm and serene with finely chiseled grace; 
Thought of our nation's birth, his valor done, 
Of Freedom's battles and of glory won. 
While musing thus, my pensive fancy cast 
A vivid vision of our country's past. 
I saw Columbia as she was of yore 
When foemen gathered on her wooded shore ; 
Beheld our rugged patriots fly to arm 
From forest depths, from city home and farm ; 

Patriotic In Fancy's mirror saw them battling still, 

Warfare. ^ Concord, Lexington, and Bunker Hill ; 

And led by Washington where blood and tears 
Told the dread horrors of succeeding years, 
Our hero sires who stood the long campaign 
Of starving camps, of death and battle pain, 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Appeared and vanished like the shifting scenes 
Of motion pictures on the lighted screens. 
Then came a change, and trembling ocean spread 
Above the crimsoned swards of quick and dead. 
On sunlit billows I beheld anew 

Our Early Our early navy passing in review. 

Navy. Each oaken hull careening to the breeze, 

"With stately beauty cleft the rolling seas. 
Before the prows I saw the billows break 
White as the foam that followed in the wake ; 
From glistening sides perceived each polished gun 
With frowning splendor flashing in the sun. 
The sails like clouds of fleecy whiteness spread 
From the clean tapering spars that bent o'erhead, 
While limned with quivering glory 'gainst the sky, 
On ev'ry ship our emblem fluttered high. 
Those intermingled colors, red and white, 
In radiant beauty glowed divinely bright, 
Linked with the blazoned square of deeper hue, 
Where stars were gleaming on the field of blue. 
Through straining shrouds I heard the sea wind sigh 
Like the sad wailing of a mourner's cry, 
Or the low murmuring voices of the dead, 
Who moaned for other days and glory fled. 

Fighting j gaw ^ ie fleets when battle thunder broke, 

Fleets. . 

And lightning flashing from the walls of oak 

Hurled from the belching broadside's blazing breath, 

The crashing iron messengers of death; 

On gory decks beheld the boarders leap, 

And reeling backward tumble to the deep, 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Or swing the flashing cutlasses and strike 
The f oeman wielding the defending pike ; 
And red with blood was many a billow's crest, 
Where shattered ships sunk silently to rest. 
Onward with cordage taut and bending mast, 
The phantom squadrons sped before the blast, 
Till on the far horizon, dimly bright 
They passed like fading shadows from my sight. 

Prosperous I saw Columbia when her wars were o 'er 
Peace. ^ n( j Peace lay dreaming on her prosp'rous shore. 

No martial armies on her plains were seen, 
Nor watchfires gleaming on her mountains green ; 
Along her coast no foeman to repel, 
Nor hostile vessels cleft the ocean swell, 
And from the forts, once belching battle flame, 
Borne by the winds no rumbling echo came. 
My grateful eyes on ev'ry smiling plain 
Beheld fair fields of yellow corn and grain, 
While thriving towns and busy hamlets stood 
Where late had flourished the primeval wood. 
Westward T viewed the march of Progress, to the West, 
Emigration. The ceaseless tide of emigration pressed ; 
Where Mississippi and Missouri flow, 
Beheld the smoking steamboat laden go ; 
While startled tribesmen heard with sullen gloom, 
The pilot's whistle shriek the Red Man's doom. 
On, toward the setting sun, across the plains 
I saw the ox-teams draw the sluggish trains. 
Through angry tribes and bloody trails they went, 
Where murder lurked and savage war cries rent ; 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Bright 
California. 



False 
Praise. 



O'er barren wastes of alkali and heat, 

Or the chill mountain pass of snow and sleet ; 

Though ev'ry path was marked by graves and tears, 

Still westward moved the dauntless pioneers, 

Until at last each weary eye surveyed, 

Fair as a dream of Paradise displayed, 

Bright California's hills and valleys fair 

With rippling rills and blossom-scented air; 

Where flow'r-y meads were bathed in sunny light, 

From Loma's point to Shasta's snowy height, 

As Sol with glory sunk his glowing head 

'Neath Neptune's sparkling waves of tinted red. 

Amazed yet pleased I viewed each shifting scene, 

The land of light and ocean's shimmering sheen, 

When lo ! the sunlit picture shaded grew, 

From noonday turned to evening's dusky hue; 

Dissolving fast was lost in deeper gloom, 

And left me wond'ring in the silent room. 

"Loved land!" I cried, "by Freedom ever blest, 
Where Peace smiles sweetly on the toiler's rest, 
And Wealth in slumber lays a fearless head, 
Nor hears a voice with hunger cry for bread. 
Land where the Ballot shows the people's might, 
And ev'ry citizen has equal right; 
Where Justice reigning in tribunals wise, 
Dispenses righteous law with bandaged eyes; 
Where tireless Industry through busy days 
Beholds the wheel revolve, the furnace blaze, 
And Immigration still its tribute pours 
Of hardy sons from earth 's remotest shores ; 

4 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Interrup- 
tion. 



An Angry 
Phantom. 



A Rebuke. 



"While Commerce sees her laden fleets depart 

To bear our products to each distant mart, 

Protected by a navy that can sweep 

With steel-clad fleets unvanquished on the deep. 

Could he whose image is this marble bust, 

Return to life from sepulcher and dust ; 

Proud would he be to linger and survey 

The great strong nation which he reared, today 

With grateful eyes he 'd scan the noble race, 

The flag no tyrant's rule shall e'er disgrace, 

And bless the day when sleeping Freedom woke — " 

' STOP ! ' 'Twas an awf ul voice that near me spoke. 

The air grew chilly and the chamber dark, 

The gaslight flickered to a smoking spark, 

And glowing coals that in the firegrate lay 

Turned cold and shaded to an ashen gray. 

Speechless I sat and shivering with fear, 

Too scared to move though dreading danger near ; 

When lo ! the bust had vanished, in its place 

There stood a phantom with a wrathful face. 

'Twas General Washington, around his form 

Electric flashes played as in a storm, 

And lit his features with a ghastly light 

Which chilled the current of my blood with fright ; 

While the deep voice which seemed like thunder's roar 

Thrilled ev'ry nerve and froze me to the floor. 

"Stop, trembling wretch! nor thus insult my ear 
With words which sickened Truth rebels to hear. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Ballots 
Debased. 



Precinct 
Sluggers. 



Prate not of Freedom, of 'the noble race, 
The flag no tyrant 's rule shall e 'er disgrace. ' 
'Tis false ! the nation which you deem so blest, 
Is now by worse than tyranny oppressed. 
Corruption reigns the monarch of the land, 
And deals destruction with a deadly hand; 
Lives in the courts, controls decisions there, 
Where knaves prevail, and honest verdicts rare ; 
Thrives in each state with jobbery and stealth, 
And swings elections with depraving wealth. 
"See at the primaries where the factions fight, 
How nice 'the Ballot shows the people's might.' 
Once sacred instrument, presumed to be 
The incorruptive umpire of the Free. 
Belov'd and honored in our early day, 
Our sons were proud its verdicts to obey. 
No foul suspicion clung around it then 
Of votes miscounted by designing men, 
Nor brutal gangs of rascals sought to kill 
Its issues rendered by the public will. 
Now timid citizens recoil with fear 
Of banded rowdies filled with fight and beer, 
And round the precincts politicians scheme, 
Whose hireling crooks and sluggers rule supreme. 
The voter scans the polling place with dread, 
Fearing a broken rib or fractured head. 
His vote is challenged, if he dares reply, 
Or face the challenger with fearless eye ; 
Some hoodlum 's fist lands heavy on his face, 
And he is kicked and bullied from the place. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Election 
Grafters. 



Church 
Grafters. 



There public guardians are too oft attacked 
By scowling rascals by the bosses backed. 
Thus at the primaries we perceive with pride, 
How politicians rule our country wide. 

; ' Next in conventions where the tools obey 

The grafting boss who nominates for pay ; 

Where benches creak with delegated bums 

Drawn from the bar-rooms and the city slums ; 

Each office-seeker bends the willing knee, 

And pays the boss the stipulated fee. 

Then chased by beggars he deplores his fate, 

And hates the day his name went on 'the slate.' 

Ward politicians at his heels are seen, 

With whiskey loaded, calling for ' long green. ' 

There's money needed for the bosses' bars, 

To 'gin' the henchmen and to buy cigars. 

The sidewalk talkers who his name extol, 

Must have their tribute from his shrinking 'roll.' 

Hall rent is needed and he 's often stunned 

By large assessments for the ' campaign fund. ' 

At home he seeks seclusion and would rest 

The weary head by politics distressed, 

When lo ! smooth gentry garbed in broadcloth fine, 

Assail his ears with ministerial whine. 

'Church-grafters' they, the clergy wise and sleek, 

Who know the proper time largess to seek. 

'Our church,' they say, 'has opened up a fair, 

And would be pleased to have you visit there. 

It also needs new organ and a bell 

To vibrate music which will worry hell. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

We must renew the steeple 's faded gilt, 
The altar paint and have an annex built, 
And all the faithful would appreciate 
Financial favors from the candidate. ' 
He gives, then from a new denomination, 
Soon comes another grafting delegation. 
This body asks him kindly to 'come through 
And help the savages near Timbuctoo. 
The holy missions in the heathen land 
Are ever needful of a helping hand, 
Where missionaries labor for the souls 
Of graceless tribes which Satan now controls. 
We know 'twould give you most supreme delight 
To help the church and spread the Gospel right, 
And if you 're generous, will win the people 
Who do the knee-drills 'neath our sacred steeple.' 
Again he gives, they go, and next he hears 
A vocal clamor which disturbs his ears. 
Women Shrill females cackle with discordant roar 
Grafters. Of words and laughter as they rap the door. 
A woman's 'piece-club' delegation, this, 
Of matron heavyweight and buxom miss. 
Strong minded lady each appears to be, 
With mannish face from trepidation free. 
They range around him and with language plain. 
The need of money for their cause explain ; 
Portray the struggle of the Suffragette 
For Woman 's rights and trousers coming yet — 
' Enough ! Enough ! ' he cries with wild alarm, 
And drops the backshish in each reaching palm. 

8 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Thus ev'ry day the grafting train pursues, 
They cry: 'the sack!' he dares not to refuse; 
And when election's o'er, the counting done, 
Installed in office which was dearly won ; 
He thinks of inroads on his dwindled wealth, 
And fills his losses by official stealth. 



Buying 
Votes. 



Crooked 
Counting. 



Removing 
Evidence. 



Judicial 
Whitewash, 



'"'At all elections we may now behold 

Corruption working with insidious gold, 

"When ignominious corporations buy 

The votes of wretches ever waiting nigh; 

And purchased scoundrels to the booths are led 

To cast the ballots at a price per head. 

If such a course to win the battle fails, 

The crooked count too frequently prevails, 

And scoring henchmen with conniving brains 

Give beaten candidates dishonest gains. 

Should swindled victims to the court appeal 

To re-count ballots and the fraud reveal, 

Dumped in the river by the knaves at night, 

The box and ballots are removed from sight ; 

Or burnt to ashes in convenient fire 

By craven rascals who in crime conspire. 

E 'en though their base iniquity is plain, 

Unjailed they revel in such crime again ; 

For when official scrutiny begins, 

Judicial whitewash covers all their sins, 

And thus the rogues prevail and thieves delight — 

'Land where the Ballot shows the people's might ! : 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Corrupt 
Legisla- 
tures. 



Congress. 



Party 
Hacks. 



"Look to the states when Legislatures meet, 
What shameful scenes are gossip of the street ! 
There lobbying thieves and bribers go the rounds 
With venal cliques of mercenary hounds. 
Each bill prepared, the work of sordid brains, 
Conceals some hidden scheme for lawless gains. 
The plotting lobby could a tale unfold 
Of secret bribing and corrupting gold ; 
Of cinch-bills fixed by Shame's ignoble pack, 
And the wild scramble for the secret sack. 
Tii vain may Honor weep, or Virtue plead, 
With Aveaklings yielding to rapacious greed. 
Corruption holds the reeking throne of vice, 
And laws are made when boodle pays the price. 

"Though schemers thus the Legislatures curse, 

Turn next to Congress where it may be worse, 

And ugly rumors whisper now and then, 

Of lurking lobby and of tainted men. 

This to the world your President pronounced 

With slight protest from hearers he denounced. 

In vain the eye may scan the seats today, 

Nor find a Webster, Jefferson, or Clay. 

The ear may list and hear no voice again 

To stir the heart as did the words of Blaine. 

In many a seat which held a statesman once, 

Are party hacks or chance-elected dunce ; 

Illiterate men by fool ambition led 

To win the place which needs a wiser head. 



10 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Fighting 
Members. 



Thrifty 
Senators. 



Mark when they gabble on affairs of state, 
The nervous tremors and perspiring pate ; 
The personal sally and the hot reply, 
The flush of anger and the given lie, 
And if unchecked they sometimes further go 
With insult followed by a vicious blow. 
Oft has the gallery jeered, the cynic smiled, 
When scuffling members have with blows beguiled ; 
Or weapons brandished with wild threats of gore, 
Which rent the air from ceiling to the floor. 
Yet there are times, 'tis said, when quiet reigns, 
And peace falls gently on choleric brains ; 
When trusts are lobbying for some shady law, 
Then hushed the valiant tongue and hostile- jaw; 
Again Corruption holds the golden sway, 
And points the rule which subjects must obey. 

' ; Look to the Senate where the millionaires 
In secret sessions fill the velvet chairs, 
And thrifty sages with sagacious heads, 
Behind closed doors tear Justice into shreds. 
There friends of railroad and of steamship line, 
Of Iron, Coal, and Timber-kings recline. 
There Wall Street sees today, and has for years, 
Obsequious servants of its financiers. 
There ev'ry trust has servitors who make 
Shrewd efforts ever for big business' sake, 
While Mammon also leads the useless train, 
And Wealth asserts its plutocratic reign. 
Thus lordly Senators the country serve, 
For princely salaries they ill-deserve. 



11 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Hopeless "Vain are the words with stupid pride expressed: 
Toilers. 'Where Peace smiles sweetly on the toiler's rest!' 
How can you such mendacity proclaim, 
When millions grumble with industrial shame? 
Throughout the braggart nation, in each state, 
We ever hear the toiler curse his fate. 
Small is the wage that compensates his lot, 
And sad his dreams on slumber's restless cot; 
While from the heart comes many a hopeless sigh 
When hungry children meet his tearful eye. 
Child Look to the mills of of woven fabrics ! where 

Slaves. Your puny child-slaves breathe the noxious air. 

See the long lines of innocents before 
The looms which rattle with distracting roar. 
Robbed of the happy hours of childhood play, 
Through tedious hours at heated frames must stay, 
And when at eve they homeward pathways trace, 
A toddling night-shift fills each vacant place. 
Watch, if you be by such a scene beguiled, 
The pallid features of each slaving child, 
And ere the midnight's drowsy hour has fled, 
Observe the sleepy eyes and drooping head. 
Hark ! on the night a cry of anguish peals, 
A little hand is mangled by the wheels. 
On with the work ! scarce heard the cry of pain, 
.Another infant at the loom again, 
To sadly toil until the morning light 
Brings short relief before another night. 
Forth from the heated mill, the little feet 
Meet the cold blizzard with its piercing sleet. 



12 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



The 

Nation' 

Curse. 



Home reached, too tired to taste the scanty bread, 

She seeks poor comfort of uneasy bed, 

To dream of joys her wistful eyes have seen 

When happier children frolicked on the green; 

Of dolls and picture books and Christmas toys ; 

The simple pleasures which a child enjoys; 

To wake with staring eyes and mental pain, 

At the dread nightmare of the mills again. 

Oft have the hapless children of the mill 

Before the rattling looms been stricken ill. 

Tn vain the use of medicine employed 

Too late, for vital force by work destroyed. 

The baby heart has ceased to tremble now 

Before the frowning of the foreman's brow. 

"With tiny fingers crossed upon the breast, 

The murdered mill-mite finds eternal rest, 

And the winds whisper round the moving hearse: 

'Another victim of the nation's curse.' 



Mine 
Slaves. 



"Look to the mines! the poison-breathing holes 
With groaning thousands excavating coals. 
There childish boys in tribulation dire, 
Down dismal depths must labor with the sire. 
The sire half paid in gloomy bondage swings 
His ringing pick which bare subsistence brings ; 
Still slaving on, to discontent a prey, 
Broods o'er unceasing toil and meager pay. 
His sons in rags, his daughters poorly dressed, 
His patient wife by poverty distressed ; 
The hovel rented for a dwelling which 
He holds by suffrance of employers rich, 



13 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

With haunting fear of ever-lurking death 
By caves and floods or firedamp's fatal breath; 
While reckless guards with murder's weapons stand 
To club and slay when bosses give command ; 
Raiding To raid the homes when little children sleep, 
Homes. And beat the mothers who protesting weep; 
Eject the family, nail the door with rage, 
When sire presumes to ask increase of wage. 
He knows, each try for betterment suppressed, 
How 'Peace smiles sweetly on the toiler's rest!' 
The rich mine owners to warm parlors go 
When miners ' graves are white with mantling snow ; 
Meet o 'er their steaming toddy and combine 
To raise the price though freezing hosts repine, 
And tireless thousands shiver in the chill 
Of dreadful blizzards with the blasts which kill. 
Still fuel trusts essay with cunning stealth, 
To grab the coal beds of the commonwealth, 
And recent scandals of connivance tell 
With high officials who had served them well ; 
While Congress gave committees to apply 
The whitewash brush and scrutiny deny. 

Industrial "Yes, 'tireless Industry through busy days, 
Shame. Beholds the wheel revolve, the furnace blaze ; ' 
Blaze with prolific flame that swiftly brings 
The jingling gold to labor-crushing rings; 
Piles up colossal fortunes day by day, 
While wretched toilers wear their lives away. 
In lonesome attics with the midnight oil, 
In sweatshops with unprofitable toil, 



14 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



The 
Lockout. 



Murder, 
Military. 



Or in the killing slave-dens of each trust 

Complaining thousands labor with disgust ; 

And if the workers slaving in despair, 

Appeal for better terras and treatment fair, 

The harsh employers hear the plea with hate, 

Close busy plants and let them hungry wait. 

Thus comes the cruel lockout and the day 

When savage passions hungry strikers sway. 

Fight follows fight and Revolution dread, 

With scowling malice rears its gloomy head. 

In vain the scant policemen may essay 

To curb the gangs in sanguinary fray. 

Next on the scene, the soldiers' flashing steel, 

And sabers cleave or wicked rifles peal; 

While Murder looks with red and gloating eye 

When weeping Labor sees her martyrs die. 

Thus thoughtless mortal, chattering with fright, 

Does 'tireless Industry' our nation blight. 

The time may come when crushers of the poor 

May rougher punishment themselves endure. 

The patient slave so long compelled to feel 

The grinding pressure of the master's heel, 

May from the dust with furious wrath arise, 

And with wild vengeance all the world surprise ; 

May quench with blood, the raging fire of hate, 

While children mourn the mangled parent's fate. 

'Twas thus in France when 'heads rolled down the Seine,' 

And may be so upon our shore again, 

When down the highway rolls the crimson flood — 

' The last arbiter of all wrongs is blood. ' 



15 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



U. S. glares 



Postal 
Workers. 



"Hark to the cry of growing discontent 

From half -paid toilers of the Government! 

From Plymouth Rock to California's main, 

The nation's servants with disgust complain. 

Not such as idle in luxurious ease 

In higher offices where salaries please; 

But humbler mortals who deplore their luck 

While handling mail or pushing loaded truck. 

Long have we heard the Letter Carrier's prayer 

For salary ample for his family 's care, 

And justly too, the Railway Postal Clerk 

Bewail his lengthened hours and killing work. 

Ruled by some potent force behind the scene, 

The scrimping nation views their plight serene. 

Each new attempt at betterment is met 

By polished edicts with insidious threat. 

fSuperiors on concerted action frown, 

And by intimidation keep them down; 

While traction trusts that own the mail cars smile, 

And reap the profits from official guile. 



Robbed 
Consuls 



"Thus with each troubled Consul who derides 

The slender pay the Government provides, 

When far away, the diplomatic game 

Requires some function in the country's name. 

From private purses each must pay direct, 

The bills to bring his nation due respect ; 

While 'Uncle Sam' indifferent to their plight, 

Rolls in his wealth and holds the purse-strings tight. 



16 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Naval Officers. ' ' So with each Naval Officer, whose fate 
To bear the burdens of his mighty state ; 
In distant countries mingle with the grand, 
Returning beggared to his cherished land. 
In time of peace to realms across the sea 
Our warships go obedient to decree ; 
In friendly visits enter welcome ports 
With cannon thunder of saluting forts. 
Admiring eyes behold them from the shore, 
Invite our sons and feast them by the score ; 
A welcome give with entertainment gay, 
And ev'ry honor to our nation pay. 
Our gallant mariners with native pride, 
Proper Impelled by honor must returns provide, 

Entertain- And their good hosts to revelry invite 
ment. To banquet tables on the ships at night. 

But 'Uncle Sam' alas! provides no means 
Beyond the rations of salt horse and beans, 
Nor sends his naval vessels o 'er the brine 
Supplied for festivals with stores of wine ; 
Not e'en mild 'grape juice' which the crews detest, 
But now the tipple of each White House guest ; 
And so the officers who guide the fleet 
Pass round the begging hat, the bills to meet. 
They thus too often are compelled to pay 
Expenses which the country should defray. 
In ev'ry port where'er the vessels steam, 
The hat is passed to make the ' eagle scream, ' 
Bankrupt ^ n( * w hen f° r home the squadron's course is set, 
Crews. Half of the crews are heavily in debt. 



17 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Immigra- "Yes, 'Immigration still its tribute pours 
tion. Of hardy sons from earth's remotest shores.' 

Dumped on the piers in motley crowds they come, 
All Europe's surplus and all Asia's seum. 
Look to the West ! where California weeps 
O'er slaves advancing on her golden steeps. 
Long has she borne and sadly still regrets 
The hordes of alien coolies which she gets. 
Asiatics. There China 's people with persistence turn 

To wrest the pittance which her children earn. 
There Japanese in growing numbers tread, 
And crowd her people in pursuit of bread ; 
While worst of all the Asian slaves depressed, 
The heathen Hindoos menace all the West. 
Brought from those lands where misery is rife, 
And vicious customs taint the moral life; 
Each yellow menial comes with smiling face 
To cheaply take some poor domestic 's place. 
Though loud the West may clamor for relief, 
Congres- Appeal to Congress and the nation's chief ; 
sional Unwise and heedless of the country 's weal, 

Cowards. With hostile ears they hear the just appeal ; 

Postpone the issue, raise their hands with awe, 
And flaunt the bogey of impending war. 
War with a little nation, much too poor 
To pay the war tax which they now endure ; 
AVhere ev 'ry toiler in the empire groans 
Beneath the burden of increasing loans. 
Brave though they be, they'd curse the fatal day 
When first war's rumble echoed in the fray. 



18 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

This, well they know, and all the world beside, 
Who see the bluffing and our course deride ; 
Point to our Eagle, spiritless and tame, 
While shades of patriots sicken with the shame. 

"Look to New York! where Ellis Island waits 
For eager pilgrims thronging at the gates. 
Still to our shores are immigrants decoyed 
By steamship trusts, of conscience all devoid. 
By stories false they fill each steerage berth 
With buncoed victims from all parts of Earth. 
Among the crowds are criminals released, 
And shipped by grateful nations of the East ; 
Deported mendicants, as records show, 
From realms rejoicing when their paupers go, 
And ev'ry ship from hold to deck they cram 
With mixed humanity for 'Uncle Sam;' 
While Labor's legions see the crime, dismayed, 
And unemployed in starving bands parade. 

"Oh yes!" he cried, "our navy now 'can sweep 

With steel-clad fleets unvanquished on the deep. ' 

No braver officers e'er gave command, 

Nor finer crews behind the cannon stand, 

And where our emblem quivers in the breeze, 

It knows no master on the heaving seas. 

And yet alas ! how frequently we hear 

Of jobbing contracts and of rumors queer; 

Of open scandal and of hinted graft, 

Linked with the fitting of a naval craft ; 



19 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Tainted Of ptomaine poison and of sick marines ; 

Eations. Of 'embalmed beef or tainted pork and beans, 
And sailors grumbling about rations when 
They think 'tis better food for pigs than men. 

"Oft have we heard complaining seamen speak 
Of armored tubs with risky boilers weak, 

Unsafe And ships unworthy of the stormy wave, 

Ships. Like floating coffins for an ocean grave. 

And shortly since at San Diego too, 
Exploding boilers killed and maimed a crew ; 
While brave men shuddered at each frightful scream 
From comrades perishing in scalding steam. 
Defective plates had yielded to the strain, 

The As some believed with our ill-fated Maine ; 

Maine. For none could tell, the dread explosion past, 

What caused the sinking hull and toppling mast. 
Indignant Spain denied the dastard deed, 
Yet felt the sword that made her people bleed ; 
Compelled with war's red horrors to atone 
For what they deemed our nation 's fault alone. 

Unwise "Look to the country's navy yards, and there 
Parsimony. See rusting vessels waiting for repair, 
While parsimonious Congressmen deny 
The needed funds and pruning-knives apply; 
Penurious cut all items of expense, 
With ports and commerce lacking in defense. 
Our latest war may be but trifling play 
Beside some struggle of a future day, 



20 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

When our brave boys are called again to meet 
Invading foes with havoc-spreading fleet, 
Possible And mighty ships on ocean's foaming swells 
Results. From blazing turrets hurl destroying shells. 

An outraged country then may place the blame, 
When useless forts and cities waste in flame ; 
O'er ruined homes condemn when 'tis too late, 
The dolts who guide our crumbling Ship of State 
Too blind to heed a winning nation's law — 
'In time of peace prepare for coming war.' 



Lost 

Merchant 

Marine. 



Crewless 
Vessels. 



''Commerce indeed beholds her 'fleets depart 
To bear our products to each distant mart,' 
But ships that bear them to the distant lands 
Are foreign carriers with alien hands. 
Doomed by our shiftless land to disappear, 
And dwindling fast with each succeeding year, 
Our merchant vessels which with bending spars, 
In stately fleets once bore our flag of stars, 
No more are seen with cleaving prows of white 
And native tars whom ocean gave delight. 
'Twas such who trained the frigate's shotted gun 
In early days and Freedom's battles won. 
Drawn from the argosies of Commerce^ then 
Our fighting vessels had no dearth of men; 
But now the navy ever waits for crews ; 
Aud 'stung' marines to re-enlist refuse ; 
\ et if the tars were treated less like brutes, 
There 'd be no scarcity of good recruits. 



21 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



The Army. "Look to the army where the sons of Mars 
Enlist and worry like the bean-fed tars, 
Where tyrants rule the manly spirits crushed, 
And all complaints with penalties are hushed. 
There many a soldier lured by promise fair, 
Of ease and travel and paternal care, 
Awakes to find the promises a dream, 
And he the victim of a bunco scheme. 
There men are jailed for trivial offense 
By coxcomb graduates with little sense. 
There menial duties and degrading work 
Await the soldier which he dare not shirk ; 
With weary hours of never-ceasing drill, 
Pumped full of pus, imagined germs to kill. 
In many towns conspicuously placed, 
Are posted bills with colors nicely graced. 
They show the joy of military life 
Devoid of carnage and unknown to strife, 
And with seductive words portray the story 
Of how enlisters rise to fame and glory. 
Some well fed fellows eager thus to shine, 
Leave good surroundings and for service sign; 
And others too, good men by hunger led, 
Resign their freedom for the warrior's bed. 
Glad hands are given when they first apply, 
And strip before the doctor's searching eye; 
While the shrewd man of scalpel and of lance 
From head to toe gives scrutinizing glance. 
No sign of blemish on the skin must be, 
Worse than a simple mole or bite of flea. 



Fooling 
Recruits 



Examina 
tion. 



22 



Poison. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

The purest blood must circulate in veins, 
With Spartan muscles and with normal brains. 
Each must have proper height and girth of chest, 
With stomach strong, tough rations to digest. 
Pure morals too, the aspirant must claim, 
With noble past and honorable name ; 
So when accepted, mortal eyes may scan 
Apollo's beauty in each perfect man. 
Next, unsuspicious of impending woes, 
The new recruit to training quarters goes ; 
When lo ! the sapient leech again appears 
Vaccine with vaccine poison which the soldier fears. 
In vain the plea that never in his life, 
He sickness knew, nor needed surgeon's knife. 
'Tut!' cries the man of potions and of pills, 
'Inoculation saves from future ills. 
We men of science argue not with fools, 
Be silent donkey ! and obey the rules ; ' 
Then gives the victim trembling with alarm, 
The rotten virus in the healthy arm. 
Next comes vaccina 's horrors, dread malaise, 
With restless nights and fever-stricken days ; 
A festering, sore, and badly swollen limb, 
Cutaneous ailments with their tortures grim, 
And evils worse to follow on with time 
And curse the victim of the putrid crime. 
Then when the patient feels decreasing pain, 
And convalescent hopes for health again ; 
Looks to the future, puts his faith in God 
To save from illness through his poisoned blood ; 



23 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Alas ! again his heart is filled with fear 

To see the dread physician standing near. 

A big syringe with needle point he holds 

To thrust beneath the victim's dermal folds, 

And filled with 'serum' to destroy the germ 

Of typhoid fever which perchance may squirm. 

Typhoid ' ' ' Good God ! ' the man exclaims, ' can 't I be spared 
Inoculation. Until I am with better health prepared? 
With vaccination's ills I still perspire, 
My limbs are covered with Saint Anthony 's fire ; 
1 've red eczema itching on my hands, 
And swollen yet my axillary glands. 
This from your filthy operation came 
To wreck my health and make me blush with shame ; 
Yet with the vile syringe you haunt me still, 
My aching form with serous rot to fill — ' 
'Hush!' says the doctor, ' it's the service rule,' 
And stabs the pleader with the loathsome tool. 
Should one brave boy have courage to refuse 
The baneful 'shot' or pustulous abuse; 
Jail for Quick to the jail dishonored he is sent, 
Refusal. Behind the bars to languish and lament ; 

Lament with comrades by courts-martial tried 
In hushed tribunals with appeals denied ; 
While braided officers the rules may break, 
And no confinement in the guard-room take. 
Thus in the Army are enlisters hurt, 
And people wonder why the boys desert. 



24 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Hawaiian 
Steal. 



"Look to the sea, where Nature ever smiles 
With spring eternal on Hawaii 's Isles. 
Earth's nations long beheld with greedy gaze, 
That little kingdom with its coral bays ; 
But dared not seize the military key 
To all our western coast and waters free. 
When by perfidious treachery employed, 
The reigning Queen beheld her rule destroyed, 
And o 'er those verdant isles and ocean blue, 
Thrown to the winds our country 's colors flew ; 
The least which rebel donors could expect, 
Was that the new possessors would protect. 
The robbed Hawaiians still the grab deplore, 
While crowding Asians threaten on the shore ; 
And future foes those islands now survey, 
With poor protection and an easy prey. 



Philippine 
Wrongs. 



"Look further west, 'neath Orient's tropic sun, 
Where Filipinos weep o 'er ruin done. 
Their hamlets ravaged by destroying fires, 
And children still bemoaning murdered sires; 
Where lonely graves in tangled jungles deep, 
The butchered victims of our soldiers keep. 
True patriots they, who faced our lines of steel 
And perished nobly for their country's weal. 
Land of their birth ! the only home they knew, 
And dear to them was freedom as to you. 
Brave Aguinaldo with a hero's pride, 
The new invaders of his land defied, 
And though subdued by overwhelming might, 
They ask, in Freedom 's name, if this be right. 



25 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

A Mockery ' < When first our nation in its early day, 
of Freedosa. R e f use( j a monarch's mandates to obey; 
Its- patriot sons inspired by Freedom flew 
To arms and battled with this aim in view : 
To build a nation in the wondrous West, 
A kingless refuge for the world's oppressed; 
Where loved Democracy would rule alone, 
And freemen proudly govern what they own; 
Their Constitution's essence and intent: 
All people governed by their own consent. 
Now in this later day your children sing : 
'From every mountain side let freedom ring!' 
While in those sunny isles you still deny 
The boon to others which you hold so high ; 
By tyrant force assert our country's shame, 
And make a mockery of Freedom's name. 



The 

Panama 



' ' Turn to the South, where millions yet unborn 
Shall hold our people in eternal scorn ; 
Theft. ^ell °^ the Isthmus jobbery and speak 

Of how a mighty state despoiled the weak, 

And by nefarious treachery obtained 

The prize which honest means might yet have gained. 

Although their ports may profit by the deal, 

Our southern neighbors disapproved the steal ; 

And yet alarmed, believe that some pretext 

Our sons may seek to grab their countries next ; 

Behold our flag with undisguised dislike, 

And curse the nation which they dare not strike. 



26 



THE "WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



The "Law 
of Right." 



Through 
the Ages. 



' •' There is, ' ' he cried, ' ' In mighty Nature 's plan, 

A law conceived by higher source than Man ; 

Which throbs eternal in the heart of space, 

Where rolling worlds their countless orbits trace ; 

For ages lived in unseen systems, far 

Beyond the circle of the faintest star. 

Placed in the heart by the Almighty Cause 

Of all we see in Nature or its laws ; 

Wherever thought with lightning speed may go, 

In skies above or troubled worlds below ; 

It yet shall live through Time 's unending flight, 

Loved by the just, the sacred 'Law of Right.' 

This mighty rule condemns our action base, 

And stamps the shame which time shall ne'er efface." 

The phantom paused and glaring at me stood, 

While chills went creeping through my stagnant blood. 

The holloAv eyes with raging fury blazed, 

As on my shuddering form they sternly gazed. 

The damp hair stiffened on my dizzy head, 

As with a bitter tone he sneering said : 

" 'Where Justice reigning in tribunals wise 

Dispenses righteous law with bandaged eyes!' 

These, trembling dolt ! thy vaunted words, and yet, 

Where is the justice which the people get? 

"There was a time in ages gone, when Man 
No written codes with studious eyes did scan ; 
Ere reason taught his undeveloped mind 
To use the brain his heavy skull confined. 



27 



Civilization 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Half beast, half human, in the wild was seen 

A shaggy savage of ferocious mien, 

By instinet prompted with his weapons crude 

To slay the animals which furnished food. 

With the stone hammer sallied forth by day 

And swung the crushing blow that felled his prey, 

Then tore the game with claw-like hands and gave 

His snarling children in the chosen cave. 

With gutteral tones he shallow thoughts expressed, 

At night a bed of leaves provided rest. 

Thus with the sweep of time for eons went 

Primeval Man with savage life content, 

Till to his clouded mind at last there came 

The dawn of reason with a higher aim. 

Then to his uncouth hut he went, and left 

For prowling beasts the cave and covered cleft ; 

Learned how to till the fertile soil and tame 

The flocks he long had hunted as his game, 

And with increasing herds he roamed the hill, 

A skin-clad shepherd but a savage still. 

"Through the dim depths of prehistoric times, 
With passing nations that were red with crimes ; 
Where cruel tribes in gory battles met, 
Or dreadful fanes with human blood were wet ; 
On, with each rolling age and cycle vast ; 
From stage to stage progressing still he passed, 
Till through the murk of ages blood-accurs'd, 
The bright 'ning beam of Civilization burst; 
Then from barbaric gloom and ruthless war, 
There came the blessings of primeval law. 



28 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Dotard 
Juries. 



Corrupt 
Courts. 



No tainted courts and juries then were found, 
Nor legal tricksters did the laws expound. 
Blind Justice then taught men to fear and feel 
The darkened dungeon and the headsman's steel 
And courts all fearful of the public's wrath, 
Ne'er dared to swerve from Honor's pointed path. 
All trial cases were conducted then 
By honest judges and wise jurymen. 
Now senile softies are as jurors sought 
For ev 'ry ease in each tribunal fought ; 
Men in their dotage whom fine words can reach, 
And swerved with ease by eloquence of speech. 
With such as these the public often hears 
How lawyers move 'the jurymen to tears,' 
When jealous harridans have pistols plied, 
Or modern Borgias are for murder tried, 
And flaunted petticoat with woman's name, 
From weeping boobs acquittals bring with shame. 
Shame ! in these modern and more polished days, 
Few are the lips to murmur Justice praise. 
Our courts of law are reeking holes of sin 
Where shysters wrangle with untiring chin. 
There Justice shrinks recoiling in disgrace, 
Sick from the felon jobs and tricksters base. 
There grafters prowl and politicians lurk 
Behind the scenes with execrable work, 
And servile judges turn the willing ear 
To give decisions for the 'pulls' they fear. 
There too at times are shady jurors 'fixed,' 
And talesmen's names in dirty scandals mixed; 



29 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Legal 
Juggling. 



"Fixed" 
Juries. 



While grieving litigants they've robbed behold 
The verdicts colored with the glint of gold. 
There judges oft with mimic wrath essay 
To win the rabble by a crafty play ; 
Precede a sentence with a biting speech 
And secret hope the voters' ears to reach; 
While fools applaud as sages bow the head, 
And cry: '0 Dignity! why have you fled?' 

"Look to the jail's inhospitable cage, 
Where friendless rogue in misery may rage ; 
While the next cell in luxury contains 
Rich knave who revels with his pilfered gains. 
Observe them well, then follow on and trace 
The different finish of each pending case. 
The first to prison is at once consigned, 
Severely sentenced by the judge unkind. 
The next invokes the 'pull' with money backed, 
And goes before a jury wisely packed. 
Note how the case proceeds, the quibbling play, 
The legal juggling and the long delay; 
How tricksters drag each favorable straw 
Through sinuous channels of the maze of law ; 
Contest each point with argument profound, 
And gasping jurors with deep lore astound; 
Delay the case till witnesses are dead, 
Or bribed perchance, to other scenes have fled. 
Then when fixed jurors, careless of disgrace, 
Return to hand a verdict in the case, 



30 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

He's freed unless one honest man there be, 
To 'hang' the jury, as we sometimes see; 
If so, they will again the farce inflict, 
Then turn him loose for 'failure to convict.' 
If by rare chance the juries verdicts find 
To send rich reprobates the bars behind, 
How soon we hear the angry public curse 
Reversal When higher courts the judgments next reverse; 
Or 'on probation' they with ease recline 
Free from the felon stripes and cell condign. 
Corruption triumphs with each battle won, 
And Justice shivers when the shame is done. 

Humiliating ' ' Oft have we seen a public guardian true 
the Police. Who wears the star and uniform of blue, 
At midnight hours in bloody battle meet 
A prowling robber on the darkened street. 
The bleeding officer who battles well, 
Soon lands the swearing villain in a cell. 
Next at the bar ere many hours have rolled, 
Before the winking court the tale is told, 
Meanwhile the 'pull' is worked and it procures 
The perjured evidence the court endures. 
Howe'er apparent the deception be, 
The case is fixed, the prisoner goes free. 
The truckling judge to hide his cunning hand, 
Gives the Police a stinging reprimand, 
And the brave cop with heart unknown to fear, 
Unjustly stung, departs while felons jeer. 



31 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Mob 
Violence. 



The Cause. 



' ' Our upright citizens have often blushed 

At tales of lynchings which might well be hushed, 

When raiding mobs in hours of night assail 

And drag an untried captive from the jail. 

Deaf to all pleas, the lawless lynchers take 

The trembling victim to the dreadful stake ; 

Devoid of mercy chain with eager hands, 

Appl}- the torch and heap the burning brands; 

While dying shrieks re-echo on the night, 

And shamed Columbia trembles at the sight. 

For deeds like this, just punishment awaits 

Within the pale of Satan's hopeless gates. 

And yet perchance, such acts we'd ne'er endure 

If crimes were punished and the courts were pure. 

It is the gloomy ever-haunting fear 

Of truth perverted and corruption near ; 

The dread that guilty scoundrels may avoid 

Their just deserts by legal tricks employed, 

That rouses savages with vengeful ire 

To murder prisoners with noose or fire. 

No land can be from violence exempt 

When its Judiciary invites contempt, 

.And Law, the wise foundation of a state, 

Becomes an object of distrust and hate. 



Eipaxian "From east to west our husbandmen complain 
Wrongs. Of rivers stolen from our wide domain, 

Where use of streams which God for all supplied, 
Are to the planters on the banks denied. 



32 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

They gaze distracted on the dying crop 
When drought destroys, but dare not use a drop ; 
While callous men who hold the water-right 
By tricks of law, stand mocking at their plight. 
Thus year by year the 'common people' feel 
Law 's wrongs which harden with a heart of steel, 
While brooding Anarchy with scowling hate, 
Rebellion breathes and harshly mutter: 'Wait!' 

The Constitu- "The Constitution, once our people's dream 
tion Is Killed, rj Q s ^ an{ j aDove a n statutes most supreme, 
Is now disgraced, its purpose set aside 
By party jurists who in courts preside. 
The Civil Service law, designed to cure 
The spoilsmens ' evils which we still endure, 
Is but a howling farce, an empty boast, 
And jest of partisans from coast to coast. 
They find a way the pliant law to beat, 
And place the henchmen on each thrifty seat ; 
Whose leading thought in ev 'ry action planned : 
'We serve to graft, the public good be damned!' 
Now many a Federal bench is shrewdly filled 
With corporation lawyers ably skilled. 
Look up each judge 's former course and see 
How oft the trusts have paid the welcome fee. 
Long trained by subtle craft, the law to twist, 
And bring their masters predatory grist ; 
Now on the bench, though public hosts reprove, 
Their judgments follow the familiar groove, 



33 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Which some decry with wrath and mocking sneer, 
While winning trusts and corporations cheer. 
Your Supreme Court, where nine great sages sit 
Three hours each day expounding legal writ; 
Like mighty gods, the nation's laws review, 
To kill or favor as their heads construe. 
Whate'er results their judgments may reveal, 
The final verdict offers no appeal ; 
There's no redress, Democracy is dead, 
A judge-ruled nation we perceive instead. 

Negro "Behold the Negro! whose transcendent sin, 

Persecution. That Nature cursed him with a sable skin. 
Deprived of rights the Constitution gives, 
In name a freeman yet in fear he lives, 
And persecution does his heart distress, 
Which wakes resentment he dare not express. 
Born 'neath the country 's flag the same as you, 
And loyal soldier in its battles too ; 
He gives allegiance to no land on earth 
Before the nation which he knew from birth. 
His heart like yours, wherever he may roam, 
Is lit with sunshine by the thought of home, 
And loves his cabin and its simple joys 
With wife and daughters and his mirthful boys ; 
Like you in sorrow bows the mourning head, 
And sheds the loving tears above his dead; 
Bends pious knees and prays for peace in Heaven 
To the same God that has to you been given. 



34 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

"The startled viper gliding in the grass, 

If undisturbed will let the trav 'ler pass ; 

But pressed too close, will turn with venomed ire, 

To strike with death and with the blow expire. 

The patient Negro, conscious of his power, 

May stand oppression to the hundredth hour; 

The limit reached, may then with fury spring 

And some atonement for his sorrow bring ; 

Strike with the gathered hate of painful years, 

To ruin spread in recompense for tears. 

God draws no color line, but gives to all, 

His equal blessings on this cosmic ball ; 

And time with justice makes all evils right — 

A Man's a Man, be color black or white! 

Ab , " 'Lo, the poor Indian!' who with manly pride 
Indians. Once roamed the monarch of the prairies wide. 
Taught by our troops to curb his noble rage, 
Nor tribal wrongs with scalping-knife assuage ; 
He also knows the pale oppressor's heel, 
Though helpless now to wield avenging steel. 
Robbed of the land his tribes for ages held, 
His shelt'ring trees by lumber pirates felled; 
His game which browsed in plenty on the plains, 
Exterminated for the white man's gains; 
To reservations' narrow limits tied, 
And right to ramble afhis will denied. 
He hungry at the commissary waits 
For scanty rations which his stomach hates ; 



35 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Looks through the haze of coming time to trace 
The mournful finish of his dying race ; 
Turns to his God beyond the setting sun, 
And sighs for justice that will ne'er be done. 

Forest "Look where the forests stood and there perceive 

struc 10n The waste o'er which posterity shall grieve, 
When future generations sadly need 
The timber ravaged by the slaves of greed. 
No leafy shades absorb the falling rain 
To rise in vapors and descend again ; 
While scorching drought is common ev 'ry year, 
To kill the crops and vegetation sear. 
Then when the storm succeeds, the heated mold 
All hard and parched no welcome rain will hold, 
And rising rivers bring their tales of woe 
When inundations o 'er the country flow. 
And yet officials of the nation serve 
The trust which blocks all measures to preserve ; 
In office kept by wealthy timber hogs 
Who reap their tainted millions from the logs. 
Of all rapacious trusts who now employ 
Corrupting wealth which threatens to destroy ; 
The Oil or Sugar, Copper, Coal, or Beef, 

Tbe Greedy For shameless greed, the Lumber Trust is chief. 

Lumber rp^is Truth attests while mem'ry brings again 
A stricken city weeping in its pain. 

San . ' ' See San Francisco, Regent of the West, 

A sparkling jewel on Columbia's breast. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Robed with the glory of eternal spring. 

The tourists ever of her beauty sing. 

Her fragrant hills with palaces are crowned, 

And homes, the fairest in the world abound. 

The sunlight gleaming on each lofty spire 

Outshines the glory of once mighty Tyre, 

Nor Babylon could greater beauty boast, 

Than this fair city of our western coast. 

She sleeps in splendor and the ocean waves, 

Pier golden beach with crooning music laves ; 
The When lo ! the temblor with o 'erwhelming shocks 

Earthquake. Like a mad monster with wild fury rocks ; 

Rends the foundation, flings the crumbling wall, 

With crashing death when breaking buildings fall ; 

While from the ruins come appalling screams 

Of victims mangled by the falling beams. 

The flying crowds with horror view the scene 

Of death and ruin they would gladly screen, 

When coming fast, increasing terrors rise 

With leaping flames ascending to the skies ; 

As cottage, palace, fact'ry, church and spire, 

Go down before the rushing blast of fire. 

From shaking hills unsheltered sons and dames 

At night behold the ravage of the flames, 

As block by block the fiery billows swell 

With booming dynamite and glare of hell ; 

While the grim prospect of starvation near 

Thrills many a timid heart with greater fear. 

When quenched the flames and saddened thousands roam; 

Through the gray ashes of each vanished home ; 



37 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Robbed 
Citizens. 



On wasted sites new dwellings rear again 
To shield from summer heat or winter rain; 
'Tis then the base exactions of the trust 
Fills many a suff'rers heart with sad disgust, 
To find the cost, a cabin then to frame, 
Would build a mansion ere disaster came. 



Lost 

National 

Pride. 



American 
Toadies. 



"Alas! no more with pleasure we behold 

The native pride our people felt of old, 

When first the eagle from its nested crag 

Beheld the sun rays kiss our starry flag. 

Then o'er the world, whichever way they went, 

Our sons to be plain Yankees were content ; 

Observed the nation with admiring eyes 

And spurned the honors which all courtiers prize. 

Today we see them flocking from our ports 

And meanly groveling at foreign courts, 

An entrance to the royal circles seek, 

Where laughing nobles view their fawning meek. 

Who thus aspires a creeping fool to be, 

Must first the Royal Tailor meekly see ; 

Who with sartorial skill his measure takes, 

And gaudy suit of costly raiment makes. 

The gorgeous coat of flaunting colors bold 

Has tails with buttons made of burnished gold, 

And sleeves embellished well with gilded braid, 

With epaulets, and lace at wrists displayed. 

The velvet knee-pants fit his thighs with grace, 

And buckled ties his homely feet incase. 



38 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



An Ass in 
Disguise. 



Title 

Hunting 

Girls. 



Neat silken socks the slender caLves illume, 
And empty head wears helmet and a plume. 
A ruffled shirt with collar standing high, 
And colored sash to please the royal eye ; 
With sword and scabbard dangling at his side, 
Completes the donkey in the borrowed hide. 
Thus garbed he pays some titled snob to teach 
The way to fawn with proper lisp of speech ; 
For well he knows that nobles rudely snub 
When lack of manners mock the crawling dub. 
Then to receptions nicely coached he goes 
And humbly scrapes the carpet with his nose. 
Next with his wealth the rich plebeian tries 
For favored glances of patrician eyes ; 
Buys an estate and frequently invites 
To festive tables where his wine delights, 
Till haughty Pomp, from outward scorn exempt, 
At last receives him with suppressed contempt. 
Thus fools in fiunkeydom bad note acquire 
And bring disdain to country and to sire. 

"Our daughters also spurned the wooing once 

Of titled profligate or noble dunce, 

But now too oft the nation sees with shame, 

The title-yearning of each wealthy dame. 

On Europe 's shores in poverty repine 

Degenerate scions of the lordly line. 

Each noble scapegrace when he first receives 

The rich estate his buried father leaves, 



39 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



A Noble 
Beggar. 



Shamed in 
Europe. 



Embraced 
America. 



Loveless 
Wedding. 



Speeds the wild course along the path of vice 
Where wine or women, or where games entice, 
Till fled his wealth, his parents' names disgraced, 
His credit ruined and himself debased; 
A helpless, friendless, mendicant he stands, 
With soiled escutcheon on his thriftless hands. 
Bright hope ! a sullied title yet remains 
To win some wealthy wench devoid of brains. 
'Who buys a title and will wear a crown?' 
Around the nations calls it up and down. 
All Europe giggles, and with mirthful eyes 
Disowns the beggar and disdains the prize, 
When lo ! across Atlantic, gleaming fair 
The Yankee dollar meets his hopeful stare. 
To Freedom's coast he speeds with heart elate, 
Where panting maids with witless heads await. 
Down to the shore the wealthy ladies rush 
In shameless haste while angry brothers blush. 
Soon as the gangway falls, the vessel docked, 
The beggar finds his progress quickly blocked. 
1D Each crowding lass his title would achieve 
And jeweled hands are reaching to receive. 
With lofty pride he kindly condescends 
To touch the hand each giddy girl extends ; 
Flashes his crest while dazzled sisters gaze, 
And cries: 'For sale! She takes it who best pays!' 
Short the unholy war the maids have waged, 
Time flies apace, Miss Moneybag's engaged. 
No hallowed love impels the pair to wed, 
Nor breathes a blessing on their nuptial bed, 



40 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



A Ruined 
Life. 



Scorned 
Brides. 



And when too late, the silly heiress finds 

Her purchased prince the shallowest of minds ; 

A selfish wretch who married for the gain, 

With loathsome habits which bring mental pain ; 

Whose gambling debts alarmingly increase 

With drafts on bank accounts which never cease : 

Whose orgies wild and boozy escapades 

With shady strumpets or convivial blades, 

Bring scandals which her fortune cannot hush, 

To tinge her cheeks with shame's rebuking blush: 

Then bowed with grief, the vicious noble's wife 

Bewails the folly of her blasted life ; 

Shrinks from the scamp who stings her to the quick, 

And owns her title is a gilded brick. 

"And there are other Yankee maids who tie 

With hungry lords of ancient titles high, 

Who need financial aid to renovate 

The crumbling castle of a poor estate. 

With lavish hand the bride her fortune flings 

To make the ruin suitable for kings, 

And then, alas ! her grievous lot to learn 

How snobbish lords and royal dames can spurn. 

She is a creature made of common clay, 

Denied to mingle with the proud array; 

At all receptions takes a lowly place 

Far from her master with his lordly grace. 

'Tis so decreed in antiquated rules 

Arranged in olden times for titled fools. 



41 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

His Lordship's veins pulsate with 'purple blood,' 
And hers are throbbing with 'plebeian mud.' 
This she is told at ev'ry courtly dance, 
And sits alone when the patricians prance; 
While glances cold from loveless husband's eyes 
Betray contempt he cares not to disguise. 
With anger, too, his tongue at times released, 
Removes the polish and reveals the beast. 
Unloved and lonely she laments her fate, 
And learns her condign lesson when too late. 

"Though speeding years increasing ills have brought 
Since first your patriot sires for Freedom fought, 
Still is the nation watched by haunting sons 
Who met the foemen with defending guns ; 
But now behold with melancholy eyes, 
Its crowding evils as they fast arise ; 
Survey the country's limits and bemoan 
The nation's conscience petrified to stone; 
National Deplore corruption, its attendant crimes, 
Turpitude. And curse the turpitude of modern times. 
Lost is a nation which alas ! perceives 
Its Legislatures hailed as banded thieves, 
Who basely stoop to law-perverting plots 
For secret lobbies and for boodle pots ; 
Who worship Mammon and with restless brains, 
Are ever scheming for the grafter 's gains. 
And sad the land where politics prevail 
With secret ' pulls, ' and courts of law assail ; 



42 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Where public rights are trampled ev'ry hour 
By reckless rascals arrogant with power, 
And public speech, of freemen's rights the best, 
Is by the law's perversion oft suppressed. 



Gambling 
Evils. 



"Now money-mad the populace pursues 
The lure of wealth which ev'ry mind imbues, 
And jingling dollars which they love the best, 
Their hope eternal and their ceaseless quest. 
Steeped in the soulless anarchy of greed, 
From birth to death the generations speed. 
Led by the lust for gold they blindly plod, 
Forgetful of the higher life and God. 
A nation falls when piety departs 
And gaming fever fires the people's hearts, 
Who pleasing thoughts of speculation nurse, 
With licensed gamblers scheming for the purse. 
Now ev'ry day shrewd broker-thieves prepare 
Nefarious plots the public to ensnare; 
With worthless bonds and cheating stocks deceive 
The fools who listen and their tales believe. 
Now poolrooms thrive with ever-open gates 
Where wily sharper for the victim waits, 
And lives are wrecked in vain attempts to win 
Racetracks. At racetrack sinks of infamy and sin. 

And gambling thrives in other ways, as well 
The fortunes lost on pugilism tell, 
When press and people brazenly proclaim 
The brutal victors in the beastly game; 



Stocks. 



43 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Pugilism, Make heroes of near-animals and sing 

The praise of 'knockouts' in the bloody ring. 
In private homes the gaming evil's worse 
Where social parties trifle with the curse, 
And midnight hears the rattle of the chips 
When cards are played and losers' money skips. 
Card There watching children sow the seeds of crime 

Playing. For sorrow's reaping at a future time. 

"Vice reigns supreme! on ev'ry side are seen 
Drugs and The slaves of liquor and of nicotine, 
Liquors. And patent nostrums deadly with cocaine 
Augment the helpless melancholy train; 
While morphine's sickly thousands none can save, 
Go hollow eyed and wasting to the grave. 
Your rum-shops too, crime's awful records swell 
And whiskey lures along the path to hell; 
While private entrances and wine allure 
Your youthful victims to the dens impure. 
Now cities on the bestial business thrive 
And from the sin a revenue derive ; 
While maudlin millions to the bottle cling, 
And hail 'John Barleycorn' their cherished king. 
Wrecked Now many a home where happy hearts did dwell, 
Homes. A tale of terror and abuse can tell ; 

Where drunken fathers shame the weeping wives, 
And curse with misery the children's lives. 
Good husbands, too, regret their wedded plight 
And seek forgetfulness in clubs at night, 



44 



Smoking 
Women. 



Immodest 



Painted 
Faces. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

When festive wives depraved diversion get, 
By mingling tipple with the cigarette, 
And puffing like low harridans exhale 
The vapors which turn decent servants pale: 
Poor maids who wonder if the ladies gay 
Desire to go the red-light woman's way, 
As choked by filthy fumes they serve the beer, 
And marvel what new vice will next appear. 

' ' Gone is the chaste apparel once beheld 
On maid and matron in the days of eld, 
When limbs were covered and the sister sex 
With mannish yearnings ne'er did brothers vex. 
We now perceive when 'ladies' walk the street, 
The skirts divided, showing sockless feet, 
And gowns diaphonous through which are seen 
The nether limbs which decency would screen. 
Now open breasts disclose the naked charms, 
With necks uncollared and the sleeveless arms, 
And paint and powder plastered on the face, 
With penciled brows to give fictitious grace. 
Though Virtue frown or Modesty reprove, 
Each coming year they more of clothes remove, 
And pious mothers for their daughters fear 
As thoughts arise of fig-leaf garments near; 
While laughing rakes the bawdy styles perceive, 
And think how soon they '11 dress like Mother Eve. 

"Gaze where you will, we see on ev'ry side, 
A sad deficiency of moral pride. 



45 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Immoral 
Dances. 



To White 
Slavery. 



Vulgar 
Plays. 



Within Terpsichore 's temples look and sigh 
When vile suggestive movements greet the eye. 
The charming minuet is seen no more 
With graceful figures on the polished floor. 
Instead, the 'Texas Tommy' is displayed, 
And 'turkey trot' and 'bunny hug' degrade, 
With many another soul-debasing dance 
At which the moral blushing look askance. 
Cheap nickel dance halls with the blare and joy, 
At night sweet maidens from the homes decoy 
Where ribald wretches waiting for the prey, 
With spurious love lead innocent astray. 
Soon winking law perceives them cringe in fear 
Of brutish white slave masters ever near, 
And brothels filled with fallen virtue show 
How dance halls fill the underworld with woe. 

"Turn next and vViw your Thespian temples, where 

Gay Pleasure beckons to the footlight glare. 

There vulgar jokes with ribaldry we hear, 

And songs of lecherous tone disgust the ear. 

The modern play to win success must show 

A smutty woman of the world below, 

Who shameless walks half dressed upon the stage, 

With naked limbs and rants with mimic rage ; 

Portrays a scene of scandal basely rude 

Where husband false is led by woman lewd, 

Or taints a mimic hero's honored name 

With cuckold wife who revels in her shame. 

Such on the modern Stage wild plaudits win 

And make the Drama prosper for its sin. 



46 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Demoral- 
izing 
Reels. 



Tainted 
fiction. 



"Worse in the Nickelodeons where the reel 
Its scenes of crime and sordid shame reveal. 
There on the screen do children oft discern 
Pernicious pranks and disobedience learn. 
There villains lure the home-deserting Miss 
To warm embraces and lascivious kiss. 
Eloping wives a bad example show 
And husbands oft with wanton tempters go. 
Defaulting clerks with women, wine and song, 
In drunken trains with pictures move along. 
Red murder there with pistol and with knife, 
Is shown in hold-up and domestic strife ; 
While con men's tricks and burglar jobs impair 
The minds of youth and for the jails prepare. 
Thus generations to destruction rush, 
While Satan smiles and shrinking Angels blush. 

"Once in the columns of each magazine, 

Inspiring themes of lofty tone were seen. 

To decent homes as welcome friends they came, 

With wholesome reading and no taint of shame 

But now good people notice with distress, 

The prostitution of the vulgar press, 

When prurient editors their pages glut 

With shocking tales of literary smut, 

As pandering to base instincts they beguile 

With fiction coarse and illustrations vile. 

Fresh from the press each new edition grinds 

Salacious filth to poison youthful minds. 



47 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

No script too racy and no thoughts too base 
From 'noted authors' to be given space; 
While bawds delight and nobler readers scowl 
At sordid lines insufferably foul. 
Thus vicious reading with its filth annoys 
And day by day the moral sense destroys. 

Degraded < < Now Art divine, f a j r ™f t to m0 rtals given, 
Art . 

To lowest depths of obloquy is driven, 

And shameless lack of moral tone betrays, 

Unknown to citizens of other days. 

Gone are the pictures which were once belov 'd 

Of sylvan scenes where lovers fondly roved ; 

Of flow'ry meads where babbling brooklets flow, 

Or cloudlands tinted with the sunset glow. 

Now seldom artist on the canvas shows 

The form of woman with respectful pose, 

Nor modest groups which pleased the decent eyes 

In other times and won the limner's prize. 

Yes, ramble through your Art Museums where 

The gaping throngs at hanging pictures stare. 

Observe some painting of artistic grace, 

With sacred subject or Madonna's face; 

A glorious landscape or a fine marine, 

Where heather blooms or foaming waves are seen. 

Whate'er the subject, and however grand 

The touch of genius from the artist 's hand ; 

Few linger near them with admiring gaze, 

Or justly give deserving meed of praise ; 



48 



Churches 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

But look where walls display such subjects rude, 
As fig-leaf wearers paiuted in the nude; 
Show naked maids as Arab slaves forlorn, 
A 'Sleeping Venus' or 'September Morn'; 
Or 'Summertime' where damsels on the grass, 
In clotheless beauty idle moments pass. 
These draw the crowds who view the painted charms 
And rave o'er fine displays of legs and arms; 
Crowd round the canvases with lecherous thought, 
And vile suggestiveness with danger fraught; 
While pale-eyed Virtue trembling with dismay, 
Deplores the morbid taste and Art's decay. 

Empty t < L 00 k- to the Church ! where people now refuse 

To bend in worship in the sacred pews, 
And few the hearts that rapturously swell 
With the sweet chiming of the Sabbath bell. 
Instead, we see the pleasure-chasers gay 
By millions desecrate God's holy day. 
In speeding autos on the roads they fly, 
Or at the ball games rooting rend the sky. 
They go to races or to tennis courts, 
To picnics, golf links, or aquatic sports ; 
Or with the gun Diana's devotees 
Wake Sunday echoes in the forest trees ; 
While hordes of anglers by the stream or lake, 
With rod and reel the Eighth Commandment break. 
Thus fades Religion, which upheld the home, 
Once when the Bible was the leading tome. 



4!) 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



The 

Divorce 

Evil. 



Then at the altar Matrimony's kiss 
Was hailed the harbinger of future bliss, 
When blest by unseen Angels from above, 
Souls were united for eternal love. 
But now too often in each stricken state 
For little cause the judges separate, 
And children weep at accusations coarse 
When faithless parents struggle for divorce ; 
While broken homes and severed ties declare 
The loss of reverence and lack of prayer. 
When love of home decays and nuptial ties 
No more are sacred, then the nation dies. 



Growing 
ins. 



"Ten thousand ills our troubled eyes survey 

To show corruption with destructive sway. 

As time rolls on increasing dangers rise 

Like lofty mountains to the gloomy skies, 

Which soon, we fear, shall make the nation fall 

As mighty empires went beyond recall. 

'Twas thus with Greece, and Rome, and Carthage great, 

As history's pages truthfully relate. 

If thoughtful men would retrospective cast 

A studious glance, they'd profit by the past, 

And better sons might rise and bravely turn 

The flood of evils which we now discern. 

No land, however great, can long survive, 

Where robbers rule and graft, and boodle thrive. 

As well perchance, a monarch's rule again 

With hand of iron and a tyrant 's chain ; 

Than raise a godless and degenerate race 

Which sordid greed and infamy debase ! ' ' 



50 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



A Timid 
Eeply. 



Pessimists. 



Hushed was the voice which thrilled my loathing ear 

With words of biting wrath. and tone severe. 

He stood with folded arms and kind intent 

As though the fury of his rage was spent. 

A milder glow the stately shade illumed, 

And smile, it seemed, the spectral face assumed; 

While pitying glances met my glassy stare, 

As trembling yet I clutched the creaking chair. 

The storm still raged, a thunder peal that broke, 

Suspended action of my mind awoke ; 

Then with an effort, by less fear distressed, 

I gained my speech — the phantom thus addressed : 

' ' Shade of the one whose name forever rings, 
The hope of helots and the dread of kings ! 
Better perchance, my trembling tongue be mute, 
Than here attempt your charges to refute ; 
And yet, whate'er my fate, I loathe to hear 
Invectives falling on my country dear. 
Our states are full of pessimists who curse 
Columbia 's soil, but came here from a worse ; 
And preach ideals which dissension spread, 
To blight the country which supplies their bread. 
'Tis well for such to close their lips with shame 
And travel back to regions whence they came, 
Or be compelled another home to find 
Beyond the nation they've so oft maligned. 
But when a native Yankee darkly scowls, 
And joins the chorus of traducing howls; 



51 



THE WRATHFUL PATRICK 



Calamity 
Howlers. 



Legal 
Murders. 



Dilates on passing evils and believes 

His birthland ruled by scalawags and thieves ; 

Forebodes rapacious mobs and severed heads, 

With 'crimson flood' and havoc by the 'reds:' 

Shade of the Mighty ! I 'm compelled to say, 

United States is not for such today ! 

To me no hot tirade from man nor ghost, 

Uncontradicted shall my country roast. 

I spurn the base disaster-howling crowd 

Whose bilious minds the future would becloud. 

Like carrion vultures settling on the plain, 

To feed on filth which cleaner birds disdain, 

The men who only evils seek to find, 

See naught but folly and to good grow blind ; 

But if with brighter thoughts they'd hap'ly turn, 

Would many blessings at all sides discern. 

The dreamer to his false ideal clings, 

The wise meet facts and strive for better things. 

Good lessons often may be found behind 

The haunting bogeys of the boding mind. 

And present ills, whatever be the names, 

Should be the stimuli for higher aims. 

This is a modern age, the breaking wheel, 

'The darkened dungeon and the headsman's steel,' 

Are gloomy mem'ries of the savage past, 

Despised today and disappearing fast. 

The awful gallows where the noose awaits 

For legal murders when the law dictates, 

Like ancient horrors for suppressing crime, 

Shall also vanish with departing time. 



52 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Prison 
Reform 



Dangerous 
Policy. 



Today the object of the prison peu 

Is not to torture, but make better men; 

To lift the fallen and with kindness teach 

Misguided ones a higher plane to reach, 

And the probation which you satirize 

Has proved successful policy and wise ; 

Yfhile many a heart reformed lias looked to Heaven 

With thanks to God for just probation given. 

•'How strange appears the change which time has made 

Since here in life your wisdom was displayed ! 

For bist'ry shows you as a statesman great, 

Of kindly nature and of mien sedate ; 

Who loved his fellows, and by them beloved, 

Ne 'er stooped to anger nor with wrath reproved ; 

But calm and dignified, life's journey went, 

As soldier, citizen, and President, 

And patriots since beside the tomb have wept, 

And pilgrims bowed with rev'rence where you slept. 

Now thus inveighing with unseemly rage, 

Your words belie the print on hist'ry's page. 

Instead of harping on the ills we know, 

How to remove them 'twould be wise to show. 

All men are human and we can't expect 

Angelic traits in mortals we elect, 

And if among them there perchance may be 

A few who truckle for the briber's fee; 

'Tis dangerous policy to hold to view 

All public servants as a grafting crew, 

For good officials have the country served 

Through years and ne'er from faithful duty swerved, 



53 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Civic 
Liberty. 



And better far to knocking censure halt 

And boost the nation, not expose each fault, 

In ev'ry land the critics magnify 

Each current evil which small minds descry, 

But ours are trivial compared beside 

The civic liberty our states provide. 

'Tis by slow steps, Shade of Hero great! 

With flying years, men governments create. 

Ours is yet young, the errors of today 

In Time 's great crucible shall fade away, 

And though the world with searching ej^es we scan, 

No better country can be found bv man ! 



Europe 
Compared. 



Starving 
Asians. 



African 
Slavers. 



"Glance o'er the realms of Europe and compare 
Our land of plenty with oppression there, 
Where mighty armies prop each shaky throne, 
And civic freedom is a thing unknown. 
To Asia turn where races cry for bread, 
And slaves with pestilence and famine tread ; 
Where niggard nature scanty produce yields 
When starving millions till exhausted fields. 
Look to the heart of Africs' torrid wild, 
Where Negro mother flees with screaming child; 
While night re-echoes with the loud halloos 
Of Arab slavers with the ruthless crews. 
Gaze where you will in latitude or zone, 
There is no land as happy as our own. 
I proudly claim the country of my birth, 
The fairest spot of freedom on the earth ; 



54 



Eenewed 
Wrath. 



Our Ship 
of State. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

The cradle of Democracy, where first 

The light of Liberty with glory burst, 

But as you see it otherwise and fear 

A falling nation with disaster near ; 

Can you not now a remedy suggest, 

The apprehended danger to arrest ? 

A spirit coming from the realms of light, 

Perchance is gifted with a prescient sight ; 

If so, no longer of disaster prate, 

But point the way to guide our Ship of State." 

I paused and gazing with expectant eye 

At the tall ghost awaited a reply. 

It came, my words again awakened ire, 

The eyes blazed on me with vindictive fire, 

The voice with fury's accents harshly pealed, 

And thrilled with horror as my blood congealed. 

"Our Ship of State," he roared, "no more defies 

The storms that gather in the frowning skies ! 

But stranded fast on ruin's dismal shoals, 

The crumbling hulk in desolation rolls ; 

W hile through her open seams the moaning blast 

Wakes doleful echoes of her hopeful past. 

Along the keel where turbid waters sweep, 

The worms of graft in myriad numbers creep, 

And slimy reptiles in the gloomy hold 

Are ever searching for the spoilsman's gold. 

The stately spars and sails with bracing ropes, 

Have long since vanished with the patriot's hopes, 



55 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

And on each link of cables red with rust, 
Is branded now the trade-mark of a trust ; 
While grim Corruption stalks around her deck, 
The gloating monarch of a mournful wreck. 

"Dark are the perils I have shown, and worse 
Are crowding still our commonwealth to curse ; 
Yet you of trembling form and glassy eye, 
Dispute the truth and gloomy facts deny. 
Look home, dull fool ! nor talk of Af rics ' ' wild, 
Where Negro mother flees with screaming child. ' 

A Georgia To Georgia glance, where fiends in human shape, 

Horror. Attack the jail lest innocence escape. 

A planter slain, the murderer unknown, 

Four colored people in a cell are thrown. 

One a poor girl of scarcely twenty years 

Proclaims her innocence and pleads with tears ; 

Appeals to Jesus with a gasping cry, 

As the rope tightens and she swings on high, 

And Bertha Hathawaj^ with murdered three, 

Shot full of holes are hanging on a tree. 

No 'Arab slavers with the ruthless crews' 

Would stoop to such demoniac abuse, 

And hell's tormentors from such deeds would shrink; 

Nor fall to depths where Southern lynchers sink. 

But down in ' Dixie ' 'tis a pleasant dream 

To hang the Negro on the branch or beam. 

Savage There whitecap mobs with nightly crimes annoy, 

Deeds. And burning homes their savage hearts enjoy. 



56 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



A Kansas 
Shame. 



There deadly rifles in the mountains crack, 

And feudists die with bullets in the back. 

There girls are taken from their beds and stripped, 

While cowards linger and behold them whipped ; 

This by official of a legal court, 

So says the press and truthful the report. 

The same in Kansas where a sleeping maid 

Is dragged from bed, her nakedness displayed. 

Beside the road, the girl for mercy cries, 

While callous rascal filthy tar applies ; 

Then coat of feathers on the tar does press, 

And leaves her weeping in her dire distress. 

This too by 'leading citizens' is done, 

While watching reprobates enjoy 'the fun.' 

And still you claim 'the country of mylnrth, 

The fairest spot of freedom on the earth. ' 

Ah yes ! the country is a glorious place 

Where deeds unpunished such as these disgrace. 



Massachu- 
setts 
Outrages. 



"Look next to Lawrence of the 'Old Bay State,' 

Where strikers starve and troops intimidate. 

There harmless men are by militia kicked, 

Clubbed with the gun-stocks and with bayonets pricked. 

There moaning mothers are denied the right 

To send their children where the friends invite, 

While courts approve when hired assassins beat 

Defenseless women picketing the street ; 

And jails are filled by misdirected law, 

To smother Freedom and to overawe. 



57 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Hateful 
Militia. 



The 

Ludlow 

Horror. 



This in a state where natives point and tell 

Of Bunker Hill and patriots who fell. 

Each state's militia now like tigers wait 

To slay their brothers with exulting hate. 

At Colorado's mines, Virginia's too, 

The nation reels from recent horrors true ; 

Of martial crimes, of children beaten, girls 

Exposed to shame by military churls. 

Outrageous wrongs ! the mem 'ry shall remain 

To link the name of Freedom with disdain. 

Your 'Ludlow Horror' ne'er shall be forgot. 

Where sinless babes were by militia shot, 

And death relentless from machine-guns swept 

Through village homes where starving mothers wept. 

"Oread scene of hellish deeds, destroying flames, 

Of reckless pillaere and insulted dames ; 

By soldier fiends impelled by lust for blood, 

And clothed with power to murder as they would. 

Tf such your boasted 'civic freedom' shows, 

Blest is the nation when such freedom goes! 



"Yet more, thou shrinking wretch who loathes 'to hear 
Invectives fallinsr on my country dear;' 
Survey the snreadine ranches and behold 
The yellow harvest fields of waving gold. 
Where willing citizens see hope destroyed 
By Asians cheap and Mexicans employed. 
Their help rejected, dubbed as worthless tramps, 
Called 'hardened rogues' and 'predatory scamps;' 



58 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Legalized 
Bondage. 



Down dusty roads in labor-quest they roam, 

With waiting- wives in penury at home ; 

Or jailed as vagrants and by law compelled 

To serve long terms in contract bondage held ; 

Then rearrested and condemned to please 

Officials looking for dishonest fees. 

A hapless land ! as other wrongs attest, 

Like ' hopfield riots ' in your ' Golden West, ' 

Where men and women are abused like dogs 

In filthy quarters and are fed like hogs ; 

Then shot by officers when they decline 

To take the level of employer's swine; 

While still the steamships from all nations bring 

Increasing numbers for starvation's sting. 

How can you say, 'in latitude or zone 

There is no land as happy as our own ? ' 



California 
Infamy. 



Craven 
Vigilantes. 



"Here is another infamy which mocks 

The name of Liberty and Honor shocks ; 

Which Shame rebukes while staggered Justice weeps, 

And crouching Anarchy resistless creeps: 

See San Diego where the heart rebels 

When crimeless orators are thrown in cells ; 

There kicked and bullied, slapped upon the face, 

By salaried rascals paid to keep the peace. 

No shame too great, no vile abuse too low, 

Upon the helpless prisoners to bestow. 

Next handed to a craven gang of men 

Called 'vigilantes' who abuse again. 



59 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Officials laugh at victims' vain protests 

When guns are pointed at their heads and breasts ; 

Then miles away in automobiles ta'en 

And dumped in squads upon the desert plain; 

There by the armed poltroons again debased, 

Cursed, punched, and choked, and tar and feathers placed, 

With degradation given without stint, 

Too black to whisper and too vile to print. 

All for the reason that they dared to preach 

For rights of citizens and public speech. 

Brooding ' ' No wonder victims of such heinous wrong 
Anarchy. Wave the red flag and swear to love it long ; 

Hurl execrations at Columbia's head, 

'And preach ideals which dissension spread.' 

These are the acts of cruelty which grate, 

And sear the spirit with the fire of hate. 

Hate which arouses anarchy and brings 

The fall of nations and the death of kings. 

'Twas not for this on battlefields of death, 

Your brave forefathers faced the cannon's breath. 

Bright Freedom ! then our guiding star of light, 

Impelled the bullet and inspired the fight, 
Suppression And in our Constitution 'twas expressed 
of Speech. Tliat p U kii c speech should never be suppressed. 

Now hated well by plutocrats who fear 

The dreaded storm that ever hovers near, 

They, mighty wealth and wicked force employ 

To kill the little freedom you enjoy; 



60 



THE WRATHFUL PATRTOT 



Kingly 
Presidents. 



Canal 
Tolls. 



England's 
Wish. 



"Would crush the hearts of altruists who claim 

Their lawful rights by Freedom 's sacred name, 

And from this land, to monarch 's rule unknown, 

Would banish Liberty and raise a throne. 

A throne which hovers like a specter dread 

And washed for by each presidential head, 

Who oft beyond their limitations go, 

Usurping powers which only monarchs know. 

Yes, turn to Panama and there behold 

The eagle yielding to the lion bold. 

Our wealthy nation built at great expense, 

The highway needed for its own defense, 

And Congress made wise laws to bring again 

Our vanished merchant ships on native main. 

But Albion frowning o'er the distant sea, 

To this objects and gives the stern decree : 

'No Yankee commerce shall have favors shown, 

Unless the same are granted to my own ! 

No Yankee warships through the cut shall go, 

If they no full receipts for tolls can show ; 

Nor laws be made, the mighty ditch to rule, 

Without the acquiescence of John Bull ! ' 

'Twas thus in substance that Great Britain spoke, 

Columbia heard and hailed it as a joke ; 

When lo ! the nation then disgusted sees 

Its nerveless leader falling to his knees. 

To Congress next with needless haste he flies, 

And what he once approved he now decries ; 

Points England 's wish with reverential awe, 

And urges members to repeal the law. 



61 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



A Stupid 
Flop. 



Bloody 
Mexico. 



His will upheld by corporation tools, 

He plies the birch like pedagogues in schools, 

And party measure of his rule they make, 

Which all must follow for the party's sake. 

E'en though the country echoes with protest, 

By shallow partisans the bill is pressed, 

And shamed Columbia shudders as she hears 

All nations echo with derisive jeers; 

While steamship trusts and railroad kings applaud 

The senseless flop to England's sceptered lord. 

Thus, forcing Congress, Presidents assume 

Monarchial rights, presaging Freedom's doom; 

While patriot pride and independence flies, 

As year by year the Constitution dies. 

"Look last to Mexico where ceaseless strife, 
With loot and pillage is the bane of life. 
A shameless nation and degraded race, 
Whose bloody deeds all humankind disgrace. 
There history shows since Montezuma's time, 
A crimson record of revolting crime ; 
Of military murders, peon slaves, 
And tyrants gloating o'er their victims' graves; 
Where lawless bandits rule each petty state, 
And ev 'ry heart is charged with ' Gringo ' hate. 
Lo ! 'revolution' shakes her burning hills, 
And all the world with breathless horror fills, 
When cutthroat bands of savage troops engage 
In fiendish acts of wanton villanage. 



62 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



European 
Protest. 



Vera Cruz. 



Shocked Europe sees her subjects slain and scolds, 
Yet intervention with her troops witholds ; 
Points to the hated Doctrine of Monroe, 
And bids Columbia feed the carrion crow. 
Our ' watchful waiting ' President awakes, 
With armored fleets a demonstration makes, 
And 'blood and thunder' down at Vera Cruz, 
Observed with wonder does the world amuse. 
Millions of money most unwisely spent, 
Dead 'heroes' home to 'graves of glory' sent, 
And all the gain from troops or cannonee] — 
Not worth a mother's wail or father's tear. 



A Foe 
Forever. 



Future 
Regrets. 



"A foe forever by our nation's side, 

That land shall be, with enemies allied. 

Sign pacts of peace, make treaties as you will, 

Her states shall reel with revolution still. 

They cannot govern, as is shown by years 

Of savage butchery and floods of tears, 

And blood will flow with rivers running red, 

Until the last mad Mexican is dead. 

By Mexics' acts your Monroe Doctrine yet, 

Perhaps too late, may curse you with regret. 

Already hints of ceded bays we hear, 

To Asian realm with cruisers lurking near ; 

Yet look to Congress where the members doze, 

Deaf to the growling of encroaching foes. 

There Dullness reigns and prescience is unknown, 

While Folly leads each shallow head of bone. 



63 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Selling 
the Navy. 



A Crime. 



Long have they wrangled with abusive lips, 
'er naval budgets and the need of ships ; 
In party squabbles o'er each vessel fought, 
While owning scarcity with danger fraught ; 
And now when needed most, ye Gods of War ! 
What means the passage of a senseless law? 
They rob our nation of its dreadnaughts great, 
Our naval secrets give a foreign state ; 
Blind to nil omens hug illusive Peace, 
And vote to sell our fighting ships to Greece. 
Our groat canal, from sea to sea complete, 
May need protection of a mighty fleet, 
And deed like this performed at such a time, 
Ts stupid folly and colossal crime. 
Whate'er the motive of the shameful act, 
Or who may profit by the dang'rous pact; 
Tf people reckless Congressmen elect, 
What else but folly can the land expect? 

The Coming "Now list! thou mortal thing with matted locks, 
Storm. And clammy head which nervous terror rocks. 

'Tis true, 'returning from the realms of light,' 
We shades are gifted with previsive sight, 
And looming o'er our country, can descry 
The clouds of doom unseen by mortal eye. 
Like distant thunder ere the storms descend, 
We hear the sounds which anarchy portend. 
Not mine the wish prophetic to portray 
Terrific horrors of the awful day, 



64 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 



Reform. 



Women 
Voters. 



Stop 

Immigra- 
tion. 



When rising rebels with resentment dire, 
Mad murders wreak and spread destroying fire : 
Or paint the fury of rude mobs that rage, 
Their vengeance glut, and lust for blood assuage 
While raucous howls of savage anger swell 
Like horrid echoes from the depths of hell. 
Not such my wish ! yet sure as planet turns, 
Or Sol with blazing light each morn returns ; 
Our nation soon must face the coming storm, 
Or change conditions by supreme reform. 
The land is weary of Corruption's sway, 
Of ruling trusts and plutocrats who prey ; 
Of politicians who 've outlived the times, 
With records foul of trickery and crimes. 
The votes of WOMEN will our states redeem 
From crimeful politics and grafting scheme ! 
'Tis time to give the mothers of our race 
The right of suffrage, 'tis their proper place 
They suffer most, with sorrow pay the price, 
When victims stumble in the snares of vice. 
Enough of such with patriotic men 
Columbia holds to bring reform again. 
They'll find a way with ballots to create 
The new conditions which will wrongs abate, 
With nobler hearts who scorn official pelf, 
And love of country paramount to self. 
Next, best and brightest of all hopes to sav^ _ 
The nation sinking in Corruption 's wave ; 
STOP IMMIGRATION ! greatest cause of &\i 
The discontent and evils which appall ; 



65 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

A treason-breeder in each troubled state 

Which feeds the fires of anarchistic hate ; 

The curse of starving workers, but the joy 

Of corporations who the slaves employ. 

There are too many hungry people now, 

Who tramp with idle hands and gloomy brow; 

Bewail the lack of labor and deplore \ 

The crowding influx from each foreign shore. 

This evil stopped, presages better times, 

With loyal workers and decrease of crimes. 

A Final < < Now- hear my final words before I go, 
Warning. And }ieed the fateful warn i ng I bestow. 

Go ! Tell again the rule with wisdom rife, 
Once made by Washington in mortal life, 
And let no shallow hypocrite arise 
To blind with sophistry the nation's eyes. 
Since first our nation rose, it has observed > 

The rule which has from monarchy preserved, 
And well maintained as rulers came and went : 
Two Terms < TW0 TERMS T HE LIMIT FOR EACH PRESIDENT!' 
This I advised, a monarch's crown repelled, 
And patriots since, my wisdom have upheld. 
One term with glory gilds an honored name. 
And two should cover with enduring fame. , 

But should there be one with expanded head, 
By ego blinded and ambition led, 
Who twice was honored yet aspires again 
With brazen face the office to attain ; 



66 



the Limit. 



THE WRATHFUL PATRIOT 

Plays to the rabble, from the rostrum speaks 
Of curing ills with legislative freaks, 
And hails himself a new Messiah, sent 
To save the land as third term President ; 
Then cursed the hollow heads with little sense 
Who heed the demagogue of vile pretense, 
And cursed forever be the fatal hour 
When such a parvenu is given power ! 
Then comes the first dictator, Freedom goes, 
Next martial rule with military woes, 
And soon the traitor monarch 's rule acquires, 
While Treason smiles and Liberty expires ! 
' ' Now you ! " he cried, advancing in his wrath, 
As though to seize and hurl me from his path ; 
While midnight echoed with my fearful scream, 
When I awoke, to find it was a dream. 



67 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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